Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1900

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Shah S.
Globalization of clinical research by the pharmaceutical industry.
Int J Health Serv 2003; 33:(1):29-36

Abstract:

Drug companies’ quest for speedy results has led to a boom in trials based in developing countries, where ethical standards may be lax and the impoverished sick abundant. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General’s office, the number of researchers based outside the United States seeking new drug approvals has increased 16-fold over the last decade. In this article, a 1996 Pfizer trial in Nigeria—the subject of a controversial class-action suit—illustrates the dangers.

Keywords:
Child Clinical Trials/ethics* Clinical Trials/legislation & jurisprudence Developing Countries* Drug Evaluation/ethics Drug Evaluation/legislation & jurisprudence* Drug Industry/ethics* Drug Industry/legislation & jurisprudence* Human Experimentation/ethics* Human Experimentation/legislation & jurisprudence Humans International Cooperation* Meningitis/drug therapy Nigeria United States